


Limitless

by Punkrock_Kate



Series: Johnny Ringo Trilogy [1]
Category: Black Veil Brides, Crown The Empire, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Deal with a Devil, F/M, Family, Friendship/Love, Gen, Second Chances
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-09-08 21:22:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8862601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Punkrock_Kate/pseuds/Punkrock_Kate
Summary: In a society that looks down on diversity, Johnny  Ringo and his older brother Daniel have to fend for themselves in order to survive. Relying on each other and their friends, they hatch a plan to bring down the totalitarian government that oppresses them.But as events unfold, Johnny soon makes a deal with someone named Drixohn. Things appear to be as they once were, but soon the group, especially Johnny, realizes that what he did was a mistake. They soon learn one thing: You can't ever trust the Devil, bitch.





	1. One

The smog that billowed from the chimneys of the factories clouded the view of the sky. The sun would break through momentarily and shine an extra light on the people on Earth before it disappeared again, engulfing us in the foggy grayness that was our existence.

I had lived in Dallas, Texas, my entire life, along with my brother and his friends. David was a year older than me and had short brown hair that spiked up in the front and gauges that stretched out his ears. He was the leader of our group along with his friend Andrew.

Andrew was a second brother to me and Dave. His parents took us in after the night our parents died, and we'd lived with them ever since. Andrew's dad was actually the one that pierced David's ears for him, which Mrs. Velasquez didn't appreciate all that much. That disappointed me; I wanted to get my ears pierced like Dave.

The other guys in our group: Benn Suede, Brandon Hoover, Brent Taddie, and Hayden Tree were the newer additions to our group of friends. We had met them months ago after getting chased by the Ravens. Brandon showed us a shortcut to their base while Benn and Hayden caused a diversion. A few weeks later, when Benn, Hayden, and Brandon had become honorary members of our squad, we ran into Brett and the rest is history.

The final member of our squad was a girl named Lina Slivka, who in my eyes was the most beautiful girl this side of Dallas. She was Andrew's adopted sister, yet she never took their last name. She was the shortest out of all of us, including Andrew who was the honorary midget. Her platinum blonde hair was always pulled into a ponytail that scrunched up the hair on top of her head. She had a certain grunge look to her, which only made me love her more; flannel was definitely her thing.

"How much farther until we get there?" Lina complained, her quiet voice breaking the silence between us.

"Only a couple more miles, Lina-bear," Andrew replied, using the name he gave her when she was five years old. I watched as Lina lightly glared at him before fixing her gaze at her feet again. I turned my gaze to the back of my brother's head; Lina hated it when you stared at her for too long.

"Why didn't you bring the Jeep, Andy?" I asked him.

"It wasn't working this morning. Besides, it would be too risky to bring it out here. The engine is on its last leg, Johnny-boy," he replied. Andrew had weird nicknames for most of us. He called Brent Tadpole and Hayden Tree Trunks. The only person he didn't have a nickname for was Benn. He'd been trying for months to come up with a name for him, but to no avail.

We walked for what felt like a millennia when Andrew stopped abruptly and crouched down next to a chain-link fence. The rest of us crouched down next to him and I looked up. The fence was ten feet tall with barbed wire at the top. I didn't know what seemed so special about this place; we were in the industrial district, where a lot of factories had barbed wire fences surrounding the perimeter.

"What are we doing here, Andy?" Benn asked. I heard a hint of nervousness in his voice, and I couldn't really blame him. Something about this place didn't feel right.

"Peer over this wall and tell me what you see," Andrew instructed. Ever so carefully, the group of us peered over the side of this wall and looked for whatever Andrew was dragged us here for. I could feel Lina's breath in my ear and tried to breath normally.

"Is that what I think it is?" David asked, awe in his voice. I glanced over his shoulder and squinted my eyes at where he was looking. I stared in shock as I saw a faded and worn sign hanging above the doors. On the sign was a three-headed bird painted in black with the words: "Be intelligent like the crow, vicious like the raven, and loud like the grackle".

"Oh my God," I exclaimed. Andy turned and grinned at us.

"You just found the headquarters to the Blackbird Society, Andy!" Brent exclaimed. Excitement ensued until I turned to look at Lina, whose face was pale with fear and shook as if the earth beneath her was quaking.

"Lina? Are you okay?" I asked her. She shook her head and I saw tears pricking at her eyes. Lina's family was brutally murdered in front of her by the Blackbird Society, more specifically the Ravens, which specified in being the police and military force. She was a little girl then; barely old enough to talk. She told us that she didn't remember everything from that night, but what she did remember had definitely left its mark on her.

"We can talk about this later, guys," Andrew told us. He stood up and walked over to Lina, who was still crouching on the ground, paralyzed in fear. Andrew picked her up and started walking away with her. The rest of us followed.

~~~~

"I still can't believe Andy actually found the headquarters to the Blackbird Society," Brandon marveled. The five of us were sitting in Andrew's parents' kitchen and waited patiently for him to come back out and explain his plan to us.

"How do you think he found it?" I asked. "I mean, no one's been able to find their headquarters." Brandon shrugged.

"You know Andrew likes to explore places he shouldn't explore," Dave replied. "But still, you would think someone would see that sign sooner or later."

"Not really," Hayden denied. "You saw how faded those letters were. Who's to say nobody figured it was just another factory in the industrial district? It's practically identical to the rest of the buildings in that area."

"Even though the words were faded, that bird looked like it had a fresh coat of paint," Brandon inquired. "Someone would have noticed that bird sooner or later." I was about to explain to him that no one goes that deep into the industrial district when Andy and his parents walked into the room. Andy looked so much like his dad it was no wonder people confused them with each other. He had his mom's brown eyes though, and I noticed that Andy had a defeated look in them. I wondered what his parents told him; Mr. and Mrs. Velasquez didn't yell at us all that often, so when they did it hit us hard.

"How's Lina?" Brent asked.

"She'll be fine," Mrs. Velasquez answered, her voice soft but stern.

"What were you kids doing in the industrial district?" Mr. Velasquez questioned. "Especially that far in; that's a dangerous place for a group of kids." Dave and I looked at each other; he was almost twenty years old, the age that most guys his age start getting jobs in the district. David, on the other hand, had other things in mind.

"Dad, I told you we were looking for Hayden's Frisbee," Andy lied. I'd never lied to his parents, but he had no problem doing just that.

"Why would Hayden's Frisbee be that far into the industrial district?" His mom questioned. Andy gave Hayden a look, pleading for him to help him out.

"Well, you see, Mrs. Velasquez," Hayden told her. "I had lost it a couple weeks ago when I was getting chased by the Ravens. I'd been bugging Andy about it for awhile, and he reluctantly agreed to help me find it. It's pretty special to me; my grandpa gave it to me when I was a little kid." I silently groaned at his lie; he put way too many details into that story. There was no way they wouldn't see through it.

"And where is your Frisbee, Hayden?" Mrs. Velasquez asked him.

"We couldn't find it. I guess they trashed it when they got back from chasing me away," Hayden answered. I could see that his eyes were dilated and he was clearly wringing his hands. We were so busted.

"Well, since you're so clearly lying, and since I assume Andrew told all of you to tell us that lie about the Frisbee, you're all grounded tonight. That means no books, no t.v., and absolutely no going out tonight. Am I absolutely clear?" Mr. Velasquez asked sternly. The six of us groaned in unison and they left us to ourselves.

"Way to go, Hayden," Andrew blamed him. "That story about the Frisbee was fantastic. Ten out of ten." Hayden's face grew red and his eyes narrowed.

"Well it's not like you gave me much to work with, Andrew," Hayden shot back. "Looking for a Frisbee? Who even plays Frisbee anymore?"

"Guys, let it go," Benn intervened. Andy and Hayden glared at each other once more and turned their attention to him.

"So now what do we do?" Dave asked, breaking the silence. We glanced at each other from around the table, clueless.

"I think we should go back to the headquarters and ambush the Blackbird Society," Andy quietly confessed. We stared at him in shock. "Ambush the Blackbird Society? The biggest military force in the state of Texas?" I thought.

"Andy, there's no way the six of us would be able to successfully invade that place," Dave reasoned. "They'd destroy us in less than ten minutes if we're lucky enough to last that long."

"It's worked so far for the Killjoys, why not us?" Brent argued. The Killjoys were a group of rebels like us. They lived on the outskirts of Battery City in Nevada, and worked to take down Better Living Industries.

"Gerard got lucky," Dave replied. "Keep in mind he had help from a couple of his friends and we don't have time for that luxury." That was true, too. The three groups: us, a group called the Wild Ones, and the Killjoys all kept in contact with each other in case of an emergency or one of us needed backup. The thing was, though, you had to alert one of the other groups at least a month in advance in order for the appropriate team to come in and learn the plan.

"And why does it have to be tonight anyway?" Benn questioned. I wondered that too. It wasn't like the Blackbird Society was going away anytime soon; at least it didn't feel like it.

"I've heard stories from people downtown," Andy answered. "This guy told me that there was this group of adults that claimed to have found the headquarters. Once word got around, the group and a few townsfolk followed them to where they supposedly found it. But once they got there and they broke in, there was nothing there. Not even the sign that was hung above the doors was there. That's why we have to go tonight; so we can catch them off guard and have a fighting chance." 

"I've heard those stories before," Hayden added. "My uncle's best friend was one of those people. He told me about it whenever I asked him about where the Blackbird Society was, so maybe we should go tonight." There was a silence as we sat and stared at each other; pondering our options. I personally didn't know what to think. I wanted the Blackbird Society gone just as much as the next person, but I didn't want to potentially lose my life or the lives of my friends and family. 

"We're not going," Dave rebelled. "No one is going to risk their lives tonight or ever." He was scared; I could hear it in his voice. But I knew my brother, and I knew that if it came down to it, he would follow Andrew to the ends of the earth. 

"Let Johnny and Brandon decide what we do," Benn intervened. I stared at him helplessly as Brandon took a deep breath and made his decision.

"I say we go for it," he answered. I watched as Andrew and Hayden high-fived each other and Brandon. When they were done celebrating, all eyes were on me. My mind buzzed with excitement and fear as I thought of everything that could go wrong and everything that could go right. 

"Johnny?" 

I looked over at David; his brown eyes reflected my face and I knew that I had made my decision.

"Let's do it." I told them. Andrew smiled and Hayden clapped his hand on my back while David and Benn stared at each other, defeated looks on their faces.


	2. Two

Later that night at around eleven-thirty, Dave and I were in our room waiting for the signal from Andrew. Our room was one of the old guest rooms that Mr. and Mrs. Velasquez used if family came in from another town. It hadn't been used for that purpose in almost seventeen years, and it showed. The once flowery and paneled walls were now a dark blood red and the carpeted floor was now wooden. Where Beanie Babies and other stuffed animals once sat on panels and watched over us when we slept, various pictures and trophies took their place. The baby crib was now moved into storage, as no one had used it for thirteen years. The king-sized bed was now in Mr. and Mrs. Velasquez's room; their bed was now the one Brent and Hayden used, and Lina's old twin bed was now Benn's. Brandon slept in Andy's room on the cot since there weren't any other beds for him.

Dave's bed sat on the farthest end of the room, while I was closest to the door. There was about four feet of space between us, but it took Dave two long strides to get to me and sit on the edge of my bed.

"Johnny," he whispered. His voice cracked from three and a half hours of silence. I sat up and reached for my bedside light, but he grabbed my hand before I could pull the chain.

"What do you want?" I asked him. My voice was a bit louder than his and he shushed me. I nodded and lay back down, glad that he couldn't see the redness in my face that came from embarrassment.

"You shouldn't come with us; we shouldn't be going at all." He told me. I frowned at him. I knew he would say something like that that night, I was simply waiting.

"It's too late to back out now, Dave," I replied. "We owe it to Andy. To Mom and Dad. To Lina." "To Lina's parents," I thought, even though I had never met them.

"That's just the thing," he responded, his voice rough from anxiety. "We don't know if Mom and Dad would have done this. I don't know what they would say, but I don't think they would want us to risk our lives like this." There was a tightness in my throat; we never talked about our parents, nor did anyone in the house ask us about them. It was considered taboo to bring up the past.

"But wouldn't they want us to fight for them? For our future? Surely they'd want us to have a chance, right?" I argued.

"But not like this," Dave pleaded. "Please, Johnny, just think about what we're doing here. What we're trying to do. We don't have a chance against the Blackbird Society. Just stay here with me and we can pretend we're asleep so Andy will leave us alone and everything will go back to normal." I could hear the restlessness in his voice, and I could see in his eyes that he was pleading for me to listen to him. But I refused to listen.

"You're taking the coward's way out," I accused him. "You'd rather us stay here in this little house and twiddle our thumbs and pretend everything is okay than face the facts, but that's not happening, David. Not today, and definitely never in my near future." Dave opened his mouth to say something when we heard a tapping at our window. David rushed over and opened the window, and Andrew, Hayden, Benn, Brandon, and Brett were crouched outside on the roof.

"Are you guys ready?" Hayden asked us. I looked at David for a moment, and he looked at me before averting his gaze to the floor, defeated.

"Yeah, we're ready." I replied. I grabbed my black shoes and slipped them on before climbing out the window.

David followed me.

~~~~

"This is it. No turning back now."

The six of us were back at the chain link fence, this time with guns in our hands. I had only shot a gun once, and I nearly paralyzed David in the process. I was much better with a knife or my bare hands, and that's what I brought with me to substitute the gun.

"Brandon, you brought the wire-cutters, right?" Andy asked. Brandon nodded and pulled them out of his back pocket. As he was busy cutting through the fence, Andrew looked back at us and reminded us of the plan.

"As soon as we get in, there'll be a lot of shooting and a lot of hallways. Dave, you, me, Brent, and Hayden will in charge of distracting the Ravens and Grackles, while Johnny, Benn, and Brandon will be on the lookout for the control center. There, you three will have to look for whatever plans they might have in store for the city that we can show to the Killjoys or the Wild Ones. Once you guys have those, we're busting out of there and heading home to plan our next move." I couldn't believe how well thought out this was. Andy must have been planning this for months.

"I got it. We're in," Brandon informed us. He held the fence open for us as we crawled through the hole. We scurried forward and hid behind a half wall in the middle of the yard. Hayden looked over the top of it and watched for any activity.

"The coast seems clear," he told us. "There's only one Grackle in our way and he looks unarmed." Andy sighed; surely he had to know that there would be a guard or two keeping watch, right?

"I'll take care of him," Brent assured us as he turned on his knee and took aim. He was one of the best shots in Dallas, so it was no wonder when he fired at the Grackle standing guard, it was down in one shot.

"Bingo," Brent smirked as he put the pistol back in his jean pocket. We followed Andy as he ran towards the building and put his back up against the factory wall. He looked at each of us and took a deep breath. He covered his mouth with his bandanna and so did the rest of us.

"Okay," I heard him breathe. "One, two, three!" Andy leaped in front of the double doors and kicked them open. As soon as the doors flew open, we were met with gunfire and I ran for the only cover I could find: a pillar that was supporting the building.

"Johnny, let's go!" Benn called. I took a few deep breaths and looked for David. He was crouching next to Andy and hiding behind a pillar on the far side of the building. Knowing that he was safe, I took off running towards Benn and Brandon.

"Where would there be a control room?" Brandon questioned. We had been running down a few corridors by now, and my mind kept wandering back to David's group.

"Let's just start opening doors and see what happens," Benn suggested stupidly.

"That's a great idea," I replied sarcastically. "Especially if there's a squad of Ravens on the other side with semi-automatics in their hands. We might be full of bullet holes, but at least we'll know that that wasn't the control room, right?" Benn glared at me when a group of Ravens turned the corner.

~~~~  
*David's POV*

"Johnny, let's go!" Benn yelled. I turned my head and saw my brother with his hands pressed against the pillar. I turned back around and fired a few shots at the Ravens and when I looked back at where Johnny was crouching, he was already gone. My heart momentarily sunk into the pit of my stomach before I was brought back to reality by Andy yelling at me.

"He's gonna be fine, Dave," he reassured me before firing again. I shook my head to get the horrible thoughts out of my mind and stood up to aim at the Ravens across the room.

The Ravens were calling in reinforcements when he finally showed up. He was bald and wore a long black cloak and black clothing. He wore a pair of dark sunglasses on his face to cover his eyes and at his sides were two groups of at least ten Ravens. In his hands were two pistols that shined in the light from the lamps overhead. As he walked into the room, the Ravens stopped shooting at us and Brent ordered us to stop shooting at them.

"Corvus," he sneered at the sight of him. Corvus turned to us and grinned; his teeth were so white I was momentarily blinded.

"Who's Corvus?" Andy asked, taking the words right out of my mouth. I had to admit, he looked slightly familiar, but I had no clues as to where I'd seen him before.

"He's the leader of the Blackbird Society," Hayden shared with us. "He's also Korse's older brother." Andy and I exchanged a shocked look. Korse was the leader of Better Living Industries, the organization the Killjoys were fighting.

"He definitely takes better care of himself than Korse does, I'll give him that." I responded. Corvus turned his gaze toward me, and I could feel all the heat in my body freeze at the sight of him.

He grinned and said, "Go get 'em, boys." And the shooting began.

~~~~

*Johnny's POV*

"In here! Hurry!" Benn yelled at us. I shuffled through the door Benn held open for me and Brandon and set him down as Benn shut the door and pushed desks and chairs against it. Brandon was screaming in agony as Benn pulled up his pant leg and examined the wound he had suffered from one of the Ravens.

"Johnny, go find me a first-aid kit, and hurry!" He ordered. I nodded, feeling dazed, and began going through desk drawers and closets in search of anything that could help Brandon.

"Just leave me here!" Brandon was yelling. "I'm only going to slow you both down so let me stay here!" My ears and head were pounding from all the commotion. I was sweaty and shaky and I realized that Dave was right: We shouldn't be here.

"Shut up, Brandon! No one's getting left behind! Have you found anything, Johnny?" Benn called to me. I was still vigorously searching through desks and drawers when I had finally found something useful. It was a notebook and when I opened it, there were notes and plans from a meeting. I looked at the date on top of the paper:

October 10, 2011

"Guys, I think I just found something we can use against the Blackbird Society." Benn and Brandon looked up at me with hopeful curiosity in their eyes. For a moment, we were silent. Benn stood up and snatched the notebook from my hands. I watched him as he read through the pages before I remembered about Brandon and his leg and went through more drawers.

"Oh my God," Benn exclaimed. I looked up and saw him with his mouth gaping open and his eyes wide in shock.

"What is it?" I asked cautiously. Benn looked down at the notebook once more and looked back up at me.

"This is a manuscript of their meetings," he explained. "They're planning on destroying various random residential areas and blaming it on us." I took a deep breath and held it in, thinking of which residential areas they'd destroy and how they'd do it.

"That's not all," Benn added. I stared back at him.

"What else is there?" I asked.

"There's a report from one of the scientists that works here," he read. "It says that they've been studying the sun's temperature for the past three years and it's been getting hotter and hotter. To put it simply guys, we'll be completely roasted by the end of the year."

We heard a radio go off in the office. Its static filled our ears and a voice broke through.

"This is R-276 requesting backup," It said. Another voice soon replied.

"R-276, the rebels' adrenaline is dying down. It's time to finish this. Lord Corvus wants your squad to start blowing them to pieces." I felt a weight drop on my chest as I realized what was happening. Dave and Andy were gonna die.

"We have to go now. Johnny!" Benn yelled. I threw myself at the blockade of desks and chairs and threw them around the room, scurrying to the door and throwing it open.

"Johnny! Wait!" Benn called to me. I was already out the door and sprinting through the winding hallways toward the sounds of gunfire and shouting.

"I have to get to Dave," I rushed. "I have to get him out of there before they start bombing them."

I reached the end of the hallway and saw that we were greatly outnumbered. There was no sign of Brent, Andy, or Dave anywhere.

"Keep looking," I pleaded. "The Ravens have to be shooting at something." I looked around once more and saw the top of David's head. "He's still alive," I thought, relieved. "There's still time to warn them."

I raced towards them, shouting for Dave to get out of here. Unbeknownst to me, a Raven had thrown a grenade right at me. I turned my head just in time for the green ball to fall at my feet. Flames and a loud bang were all I could see.


End file.
